USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
William M. Pettengill was a farmer and a
JOSEPH F. ESTEN.
63
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
leading man in town and church affairs. Very conscientious, he was extremely careful in forming opinions and exact in all his busi- ness transactions. His wife, Mary, was a daughter of Joseph Stevens, who fought at the battle of Bunker Hill, attained the age of eighty-five years, and who has been described as a stalwart and brave man. The picture of a venerable man in the act of going to church on Bunker Hill Day is still vividly retained by Wesley Pettengill among his recollections of his maternal grandfather. The children of William and Mary Pettengill were: John Q. A., William S., and Wesley. John died in Calcutta, at the age of twenty years, he having stopped at that port while on his sec- ond voyage at sea. William S. was a success- ful farmer and speculator, a Selectman of the town, and a Representative to General Court in 1860. During the war he recruited Com- pany C of the Forty-eighth Massachusetts Regiment, under Colonel Stone, which, though enrolled for but nine months, was gone a year, having been at Port Hudson under General Banks. After Captain Pettengill came back, he was a recruiting officer for some time. He died in 1881. His wife, Mary E., a daughter of Caleb Pike, had four children, namely: J. Q. A. Pettengill, who married Mary E. Merrill, of Salisbury; Mary J., now the wife of Dr. Eugene Gilman, a dentist of Worcester; and Nellie T. and William S., living at home.
After receiving his education in the town schools, Wesley Pettengill went to work on the farm with his brother, his father having practically retired. Beginning in 1865, he was engaged in the grocery business in Salis- bury for two years. Then he went to Law- rence, and in company with Edwin T. Pike formed the firm of Pike & Pettengill. At the end of another two years he sold out his in-
terest in this business, and returned to the farm, which he has since carried on. Since the division of the town in 1886, he has taken an active and prominent part in its affairs. He is now the chairman of the Board of Se- lectmen for the fourth term, having been a member of the board since 1886 excepting the years 1889, 1893, 1894, and 1895. He has also been Assessor, Overseer of the Poor, and a member of the Board of Health. A stanch Republican, he has been a delegate to numer- ous State conventions of his party, and he has been the chairman of the Republican Town Committee for a number of years. Frater- nally, he is a member of Caleb Cushing Coun- cil and of the Essex Agricultural Society.
On the 22d of January, 1863, Mr. Petten- gill married Caroline Gerrish, daughter of Daniel Gerrish, of Salisbury. His children are: Annie G., a graduate of North Hadley Female College, now the wife of Walgrave S. Bartlett, who is an attorney of Haverhill; George W., a clerk in the employ of the Bos- ton & Maine Railroad at Amesbury ; Henry Gerrish, who married Edith Pike and is the father of Norris Parker Pettengill, aged three years; and Grace Garfield, a young lady of sixteen, living with her parents. Mr. Petten- gill attends the Methodist church.
OSEPH F. ESTEN, who was born in the State of Rhode Island in 1836, is a well-known figure on the streets of Amesbury, where for many years he has been actively identified with the business in- terests of the town. His early education was received in the Rhode Island public schools. At the age of ten he became a mem- ber of the family of his uncle, John Chase, of Waterford, Mass., who was a woollen manu- facturer. Here as a boy he gained an insight
64
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
into the woollen business. He was subse- quently employed in Graniteville, R.I., as a boss dress tender; at Webster, Mass., as a boss weaver; at Wilsonville, Conn., as super- intendent ; at North Oxford, Mass., as super- intendent ; and at Monson, Mass., as general manager. After leaving Monson, he beeame the superintendent of the woollen department of the Hamilton Woollen Company at South- bridge. From Southbridge this company, through the influence of Joshua Ballard, who at that time was the treasurer of the eorpora- tion, transferred Mr. Esten to Amesbury, where he was the agent of the cotton and woollen departments for four years. In 1887, upon the death of Mr. Ballard, many changes were made in the corporation, and Mr. Esten engaged in business for himself, purehasing the extensive carriage plant of Dudley E. Gale on Collins Street. Here he had carried on a first-class manufacturing business for eight years, when, through losses incurred by indorsing the notes of friends during the re- eent finaneial panic, he was obliged to retire from the carriage industry in 1894. Since that time he has been doing business as a car- riage broker, travelling through various see- tions of New England. Throughout his long career, despite heavy reverses, no man has lost a dollar by trusting him. Always tem- perate, genial, and interested in town affairs, though he has invariably declined publie office, he is highly respected by all who know him.
Mr. Esten married Helen E. Colby, of the famous old New England family that has given its name to institutions of learning in at least three States of the Union. Her grandfather, Rowell Colby, built the log house still standing at Enfield, where are pre- served many other interesting relies of the family. Her father, Zacheus Colby, a man of
means and influence in his day, married Abi- gail Eastman, an aunt of Daniel Webster. Mr. and Mrs. Esten have five ehildren - Wal- ter F., Esther, Albert H., Frank E., and Eunice. Walter F., a woollen broker, lo- cated at 131 Kingston Street, Boston, married Effie L. Smith, of Southbridge, and has thrce children : Pearl, aged ten years; Mildred ; and Louise. Esther married William H. Bolster, a retired dry-goods merchant of Valley Falls, R.I., and has two ehildren - Arthur and Herbert. Albert H., a woollen dyer of Rhode Island, is unmarried. Frank E. resides at St. Louis, Mo. ; and Eunice, the youngest of the family, married Fred A. Hoyt, the eashier of the Armour Beef Com- pany at Pawtucket, R.I., and resides in a house directly opposite that of her father in Amesbury. Mr. Esten is a member of the Dayspring Lodge, F. & A. M., of Monson, and is connected with the Amesbury Board of Trade.
OHN T. SMALL, of the firm of Don- nell & Small, building contractors of Groveland, was born in Gray, Me., in 1850, son of Stephen and Hannah (Tweed) Small. Stephen Small, who was born in Gray in 1820, followed agricultural pursuits in that town until his death, which occurred in 1886. His wife, Hannah, was a native of Massachusetts and a daughter of John Tweed. She lived to be seventy-three years old, dying in 1894.
John T. Small in boyhood attended school in his native town, and also assisted his father upon the farm. Later he went to Saco, Me., where he worked at carriage-making for Levi Boothby, and in 1871 he eame to Groveland. He was first employed here as a carpenter upon the Merrimac Academy building for Abner Hardy, and has since acquired a high
65
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
reputation as a builder of residences in this and the adjoining towns. Some time ago he became connected with his present partner, Mr. Nathaniel Donnell, and the firm are now doing a profitable business as building con- tractors. In politics Mr. Small supports the Democratic party. He was elected a member of the Board of Selectmen in 1893 and in I S96.
In 1874 Mr. Small was joined in marriage with Ellen M. Morse, daughter of James and Maria Morse, of Groveland. Her grand- father, Benjamin Morse, who was born in Newbury, Mass., February 5, 1754, and who was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Bartlett) Morse, married Alice Greenough, daughter of James and Mary Greenough. He enlisted as a private in Captain Thomas Mighill's com- pany, of Rowley, in 1777, and after serving with that company six months re-enlisted in Captain Jonathan Ayer's company, of Haver- hill, with which he served three months and thirteen days. James Morse, Mrs. Small's father, was born in old Bradford, Mass., in 1802. He was in early life a cloth weaver and later a farmer. He died in Groveland in 1865.
Mr. and Mrs. Small have two children, namely: Alice J., born in 1875; and Edgar S., born in 1887. Alice J. was graduated from the high school in 1892 and from the Massachusetts State Normal School, Salem, in 1894. She is now a school teacher in South Groveland. Mr. Small is a member of Papahannah Lodge, Order of the Golden Cross.
SRAEL HERBERT PUTNAM, a re- tired shoe manufacturer of Danvers, was born in this town, January 18, 1819, son of Simeon and Deborah B. (Brown) Put- nam. The father, a son of Aaron Putnam,
was a farmer, and owned the farm that now belongs to the subject of this sketch, into whose possession it came through inheritance. He had seven children, as follows: Simeon, who became a carpenter; Aaron, who was a shoe manufacturer; Augustus, a farmer; Ed- ward, who was an invalid, and died in middle life; Israel H .; Lydia, who married Nathan Tapley ; and Elizabeth.
Israel H. Putnam, the only member of this large family now surviving, was educated at the Topsfield, Bradford, and Pembrook Acad- emies, and taught school for a few years, numbering among his pupils the well-known Dr. A. P. Putnam. He subsequently learned the shoe business, and, engaging in the manu- facture of shoes while still a young man, he continued in this line until his retirement some eight or ten years ago. When he first began business for himself, the shoes were made on contract by men outside the shop. Mr. Putnam, however, afterward built a fac- tory, where all his work was done, which factory is now owned and operated by his son, Austin H. Putnam. He manufactured chiefly misses' and children's shoes, for which he had a large Western demand, the dealers receiving the article directly from the factory. Mr. Putnam married Sarah P. Putnam, daughter of James A. Putnam, of Danvers. She bore him three children, as follows: Laura M., wife of Samuel P. Driver, of Haverhill; Carrie W., wife of Lewis A. Nichols, of Chicago, Ill. ; and Austin H., who has succeeded to his father's business, and, with his wife, Ida M. Lyford Putnam, lives at the old home. Mr. and Mrs. Austin H. Putnam have two chil- dren - Harold L. and Sarah Placentia.
Mr. Putnam has been a director of the First National Bank in Danvers, where he has re- sided all his life up to the present time. For many years since his retirement from busi-
66
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
ness he has been president of the savings- bank, giving to its affairs his careful personal attention. Politically, he was a member of the old Whig party, and subsequently became a Republican, but has taken no active part in public affairs. He has been one of the trus- tees of the Peabody Institute, holding this office since its organization. Socially promi- nent, he has long been one of the most use- ful and respected citizens of Danvers. His religious affiliations are with the Congrega- tional church.
HARLES WEBSTER GAY, a civil engineer of Lynn, was born in the South Parish of Dedham, now Nor- wood, Mass., April 28, 1848, son of Ebenezer Fisher and Sarah A. (Webster) Gay. His father and five generations of paternal ances- try were natives of Dedham; and his mother was born in Georgetown, Mass. Ebenezer F. Gay was a grocery merchant and Postmaster in South Dedham for a number of years, and during the last twelve years of his life he car- ried on a leather and shoe finding business in Boston. He was prominently identified with public and religious affairs and with the tem- perance cause in his native town, where he died in 1871, aged fifty-one years. A memo- rial window bearing his name was placed in the First Universalist Church of Lynn by the late Samuel M. Bubier.
Charles Webster Gay completed his school education in the Dedham High School at the age of eighteen years. Entering the office of John B. Henck, professor of civil engineer- ing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy, he remained with him for a year and a half. Ile then continued his studies under Colonel H. W. Wilson, of Boston, until 1872, during which year he was in charge of cn-
gineering work under the Board of Public Works in the District of Columbia. At the same time he conducted an office in Lynn, where he has since practised his profession. In 1888 he was elected City Engineer, and has held that office for eight years -- planning and supervising the construction of notable public improvements, which have involved the expenditure of more than half a million dol- lars of public funds. He is a member of the American and Boston Societies of Civil En- gineers.
On January 27, 1873, Mr. Gay was joined in marriage at Andover, Mass., with Rosa- mond Abbott Mclaughlin, a native of George- town. He has one daughter, Florence W. Mr. Gay has been quite active in public affairs, and was a member of the Common Council in 1884. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and is connected by member- ship with Golden Fleece Lodge, of which he is secretary; Sutton Chapter, R. A. M. ; Olivet Commandery, K.T .; Salem Council, R. & S. M. ; and Aleppo Temple of the Mys- tic Shrine, Boston. He is also a member of the Oxford and Park Clubs.
A LBERT B. BROWN, cashier of the Powwow National Bank, Amesbury, was born in this town in 1849, son of Bailey C. and Frances (Cogswell) Brown. His paternal ancestry were people of high standing, and his mother's family is a notable one in Essex County. Bailey C. Brown learned the tailor's trade in Georgetown, from which place he moved to Manchester-by-the- Sea, afterward locating in Amesbury. He was active in political affairs, represented this town in the legislature in the carly sixties, and for many years held the appointment of Deputy Internal Revenue Collector at New -
-
WILLIAM P. COLBY.
69
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
buryport, where he remained until this district was consolidated.
Albert B. Brown has been connected with the Powwow River National Bank since he was sixteen years old. First appointed as clerk, he served in that capacity until he was elected cashier in 1877. He is also a director of the Powwow River Water Company and a trustee of the Provident Institution for Savings in the towns of Salisbury and Amesbury. He is ca- pable and trustworthy, and has an excellent reputation in business circles. Mr. Brown married Hattie N. Godsoe, of Amesbury.
ILLIAM P. COLBY, a retired littérateur, who is now residing in Merrimac, was born in West Ames- bury on October 23, 1821. A son of Joshua Colby, he is a descendant in the eighth gener- ation of Anthony Colby, who accompanied Governor Winthrop to Salisbury in 1638. The line of descent is traced directly from Anthony, through Samuel (first), Samuel (sec- ond), Samuel (third), Barzilla, and Joshua (first), to Joshua (second), William P. Colby's father. The family has furnished governors to both Maine and New Hampshire.
Barzilla Colby served as a minute-man in 1776. William Williams, the father of Will- iam P. Colby's grandmother, was prominent among the New Hampshire patriots during the struggle for independence. Joshua Colby (second), was a prosperous carriage manufact- urer of Amesbury. For upward of twenty years he served as a Selectman, represented his district in the State legislature, and was a member of Governor Marcus Morton's Coun- cil in 1843. In the capacity of Justice of the Peace he transacted much legal business, in- cluding the settlement of estates. When he died in 1881 he was eighty-six years old. He
married a daughter of William Pecker, a well- known pottery manufacturer in this locality.
William P. Colby is indebted for his early education to both the Kingston and Andover academies. After preparing himself for the ministry, he labored as a Universalist preacher for ten years. Subsequently he served for three years in the Civil War as chaplain of the Seventeenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers. After the war he engaged in lit- erary work in Boston. Being a versatile writer, he found constant and lucrative em- ployment until about 1880, when he was sum- moned home by the illness of his father. The latter left him a comfortable estate, upon which he has since lived in retirement, but keeping in touch with current events.
Mr. Colby's wife, who was a daughter of Samuel Bancroft, of West Amesbury, died on April 29, 1859. She was the mother of three children, one of whom died in infancy. The others were: Joshua Harlan, who was the pro- prietor of a hotel at Salisbury Beach, and died at the age of thirty years; and Abbie Irene Colby, who is residing at home. Mr. Colby is a comrade of C. R. Mudge Post, G. A. R., No. 114. He attends and supports the Uni- versalist church.
ALTER OSBORNE FAULKNER, of the firm of F. J. & W. O. Faulkner, morocco manufacturers of Lynn, Mass., is an energetic, capable business man and an esteemed resident of this city, in which he was born November 10, 1863. His father, Joseph Faulkner, who was born in Malden, Mass., spent his earlier years on a farm. Learning the morocco dresser's trade, Joseph Faulkner first engaged in business in Danvers, and in 1856 removed to Lynn, where he carried on the same business until his re-
70
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
tirement from active pursuits in 1889, his sons then succeeding him. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret E. Osborne, was born and educated in Salem.
Walter O. Faulkner obtained a practical education in the public schools of Lynn. During his early manhood he was connected with the Thomson-Houston Electric Com- pany as travelling electrician in this and for- eign countries for a period of seven years. This position was one of great advantage, bringing him into close contact with many leading men and prominent enterprises. In 1889, in company with his brother, Frank J. Faulkner, he succeeded his father in the mo- rocco business, in which he has since been profitably engaged. He is a natural me- chanic, happily endowed with inventive genius of a high order, and during the mo- rocco dressers' strike in 1891 made good use of his time, with his brother's assistance, in- venting and putting on the market a machine for seasoning leather. This invention, known as the "Faulkner Seasoning Machine, " has been well tested, and is now generally used in all the large morocco factories of the State.
A stanch Republican in his political affilia- tions, Mr. Faulkner has served his fellow- citizens in various responsible positions. In 1894 and 1895 he was a member of the Com- mon Council, and the following year was an Alderman of the city. In 1894 he served on the Committees on Public Grounds, Street Lights, Revision of Charter, and on the Elec- trical Committee. In 1895 he was on the Street Light, the Electrical, and the Public Property Committees. While an Alderman he served on the Street Light and Electrical Committees, and was chairman of the Com- mittee on Claims and of Street Sprinkling. In 1897 he was elected as School Committee for a term of three years. In 1894 he was
made a trustee of the Lynn Public Library, and the same year was elected its treasurer, a position which he still holds. He is now serving on the Building Committee, and has been elected to erect the new Shute Memorial Library. He is a valued member of both the Oxford and the Park Clubs.
Mr. Faulkner was married September 26, 1888, to Miss Emma J., daughter of the Hon. H. B. Lovering, ex-Congressman and now (1896) Pension Agent. Mr. and Mrs. Faulk- ner have one child - a son, Joseph H.
RANK P. TODD, a leading resident and a prominent agriculturist of Row- ley, was born March 3, 1853. A son of George A. and Ruth Ann (Payson) Todd, he is the only living descendant of the famous Elder Payson in Rowley, Aunt Payson having been the last bearer of the name. The mater- nal line of descent is traced to Elliot Payson, born March 11, 1699, fourth son of the Rev. Edward and Elsie (Phillips) Payson. On November 17, 1722, he married Mary, dangh- ter of James and Mary (Hopkinson) Todd. Born April 15, 1700, she died September 8, 1758. She had a large family of children, all born in Rowley, as follows: Elizabeth, July 23, 1723, who married Joseph Burpee; Ed- ward, January 14, 1727, who married widow Hannah Pearson; a child that died in infancy, January 1, 1729; James, born June 20, 1730, who married Elizabeth Boynton; Elliott, bap- tized December 9, 1733, who died July 16, 1736; Mary, born January 18, 1735, who died July 11, 1736; Elliott, May 16, 1737, who married Mary Hazeltine Bradford; David, November 11, 1739, who was killed July 20, 1758; Moses Paul, January 26, 1742, who on April 26, 1758, married Deborah Gage, and had six children; and Mary, March 11, 1744,
71
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
who was the youngest. Moses Paul Payson, great-grandfather of Frank P. Todd, had a son David, born April 5, 1777, who died Septem- ber 12, 1873. David married Ruth Pickard Harris, and became the father of two sons and four daughters. The sons were Elliot and Moses Paul. Of the daughters, Ruth Ann, born June 23, 1818, married George A. Todd. A picture of the old Pickard house, which was recently torn down, is in the possession of Frank P. Todd.
The Todd family began with John Todd, one of the early settlers. Captain Moses Todd, grandfather of Frank P., a farmer and a very prominent man in the county, had a large family of children. The children were still young when their home was burned. With considerable difficulty and sacrifice, it was rebuilt; and, when the boys became old enough to work, they assisted in paying the indebtedness incurred at that time. Captain Todd lived in a part of Rowley called Kit- tery, about a mile and a quarter from where his grandson now resides. He commanded a company of militia for some years, and died near the close of the Civil War. George A., born in 1812, learned the shoemaker's trade. At the age of twenty-one he went to George- town, then a part of Rowley, and worked as foreman in the shop of John A. Lovering. His health failing, he returned to Rowley in 1838 or 1840, and there for some years drove a cart. He then settled upon a farm, and was engaged in agriculture during the rest of his life. Many improvements were made by him on the estate, which comprised a part owned by his first wife and a part bought by him. He was active in town affairs, serving for twenty years as a member of the Board of Overseers of the Poor. A Republican in politics, he was a strong sup- porter of the government throughout the Civil
War. He died in 1882, at the age of seventy years.
Frank Todd was educated in the common schools of Rowley, the Putnam Free School, and Dummer Academy. Having taken charge of the farm in 1883, he has given especial attention to dairying and the raising of fruit and hay, and largely increased the live stock. He has about one hundred and fifty young orchard trees and many older ones. His new barn, which was completed in 1895, is one of the best equipped in New England. Built in accordance with Mr. Todd's suggestions, it is especially adapted to his business. The main building is forty by seventy-two feet, and con- tains two improved silos, with a capacity of seventy-five tons each. The cattle L, thirty- six by fifty-six feet, is equipped with the Prescott stanchion. The whole is well lighted and ventilated, and supplied with water, which is led into the cattle stalls. As the cattle are kept in a separate part, no odors from the stalls can penetrate to the hay, which is thus kept fresh and wholesome. The cellar is carefully cemented, and is water-tight. All his farming implements are of the modern type. The milk produced is sold in Lynn.
While Mr. Todd has not aspired to political honors, he has been a delegate to numerous State, county, and Senatorial conventions. In 1887, 1888, and 1889 he was on the Board of Selectmen, and for two years of the time he was chairman. He is a member of the A. O. of U. W., Housatonic Council, of Pomona Grange, and of the Essex County Agricultural Society. He and his wife, Mrs. Fannie Todd, have eight children, namely: Ruth Payson, born May 14, 1879, now attending school in Newburyport; John Harris, born September 8, 1880; George Albert, born June 14, 1884; Harland Kendall, born August 1, 1886; Laura Francis, born January 20, 1889;
72
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Marion Goldsmith, born October 10, 1894; Emily Hale, born March 28, 1896; and Frank S., born January 16, 1898.
ON. EDWARD PAYSON SHAW, of Newburyport, the State Treasurer of Massachusetts and one of the most successful business men of New Eng- land, was named after the Rev. Edward Pay- son, a celebrated clergyman of Portland, Me., whose eloquent sermons electrified a bygone generation. He was born September I, 1841, in Newburyport, son of Major Samuel and Abigail (Bartlett) Shaw. His father, a knight of the whip from early boyhood, was one of the best-known drivers of the Eastern Stage Company, which was formerly engaged in the business now conducted by the Eastern Railroad Company. He held the rank of Major in the militia when the contingent of Essex County was commanded by General Lowe; and he was a contemporary of Colonel Daniel Adams, Colonel Jeremiah Colman, and Major David Emery. His death, which oc- curred in March, 1868, was regretted as the loss of a man of piety and integrity. He was three times married, his third wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, being in maidenhood Abigail Bartlett, a daughter of Richard Bartlett, and a grand-daughter of the Hon. William Bartlett, who was a million- aire, and was alleged to have been the wealth- iest man in the State at one time.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.